Not that you need a study to tell you that Twitter has exploded in popularity over the last three years, but the Edison Research and Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series has put together the hard stats. In a report called Twitter Usage in America: 2010, the group found that:
– Awareness of Twitter has exploded from 5% of Americans 12%+ in 2008 to 87% in 2010 (by comparison, Facebook’s awareness is 88%)
– Despite equal awareness, Twitter trails Facebook significantly in usage: 7% of Americans (17 million persons) actively use Twitter, while 41% maintain a profile page on Facebook.
– Nearly two-thirds of active Twitter users access social networking sites using a mobile phone
– 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks
